A Venture into the unknown
by itsJonesy
Summary: Alaska, 240 years after the nuclear war. Vault Number 2 is on the verge of extinction due to the lack of fertile soil. In order to save its people, the overseer sends his son Jason into the outside to find a new home for the residents of the vault. Half blind, he will climb into the wastes and discover the true meaning of survival. (Cover image coming soon)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Vault sweet, Tomb

To live and to die in the vault had always been expected, and if things had continued on the same path than it would still be today. In order to explain how I got to my current state of staring down the barrel of a forty-four I might as well go all the way to a week before my grand adventure. As many people in the wastes can probably tell you, I was born in a hole in the ground. This hole in the ground had a name, Vault 2.

Now what is a vault many of you may be asking, well a vault is a glorified long term bomb shelter. About 250 years ago the inhabitants of the old world got into a very big war, in an effort to end the war a country unleashed its arsenal of nuclear fire. Everyone with equal abilities responded to the same tune, seeing this as an inevitability, Vault-tech invented and built tons of vaults just like mine. Each vault was led by an overseer who acted like the mayor of the inhabitants.

Being an overseer never seemed like a good job to me, unless you find watching over a handful of people enclosed in a giant metal box a few hundred feet below the earth fun then by all means run for election. It was the overseer's job, however, to insure the continued survival of all of its inhabitants and make sure they are well fed. Over the course of the 200+ years of being exposed to high levels of radiation and our bodies becoming accustomed too little to no food or water for a huge amount of time, humans evolved. This made the overseer's job a bit easier to manage since it took almost five whole weeks for someone to die of thirst and double that for hunger. I would later find out that those who had been outside of the vault grew to not need as much sleep but I will go into that much later.

Our vault had a very special job, and by special I mean highly degrading and borderline inhumane. We were to test the long term effects of radiation…on ourselves. Many people died during the first few years of being in the vault, some people's genes would mutate in such a way that they grew into big muscular beasts and turned green when they were born. We learned that we had to put those people down or else they would go nuts on everyone. Other people might grow an extra limb or maybe even develop an exoskeleton. Out of all the possibilities that could have happened to me, I was born without my right eye.

People felt sympathetic at first but eventually I became the butt end of cruel jokes. I absolutely refuse to talk about said jokes but they were horrid I assure you. My left eye was not very good though. I am what people called "far-sighted" meaning I can't see things that are really close to me and I have to wear glasses, or rather a monocle, to see the things that are close. But I was exceptionally gifted in intelligence and charisma, because of my awesome brain I got a position as a technician in the vault giving me access to plenty of scrap metal and electronics.

I created an eye-patch/glasses combo, half of the set was my usual monocle thing and the other half was a metal eye patch that attached to the bridge that goes over my nose. Why is it made of metal you are no doubt asking, it is because of the computer. I have, with the help of the vault doctor, drilled a hole through my non-existent eye into my skull so I can hook up a computer to my brain. What is the computer you may now be asking, it isn't a computer really it is my pipboy-3000. Pipboys' are one of the most important pieces of a vault dwellers arsenal; it can manage health, radiation levels, thirst and hunger, equipment, and medicine. It can also tune into the PDA system in the vault.

Everyone had a pipboy, it was given to you when you turned ten years old and was considered a rite of passage by most people. It was also the only thing anyone ever looked forward too down here. Well there was one other thing, death. You are never prepared to witness someone die by any means, mine was via a murder and the second was the man's execution. An extremist from the south east living quarters decided that enough was enough and murdered the overseer because he felt that she was "much too feminine for the job". That was when my father became the overseer, and where our story can finally begin.

It was a Monday I think, maybe a Tuesday, no one really gave a darn about what day it was, only the time. People seemed really busy of late, shoving and pushing and even a little biting here and there. I tried to ask my uncle Ben why people were freaking the heck out. "I don't even know Jason, and you're a grown ass man learn to fucking cuss every so often please, it makes you seem…weak." He told me, he always yelled at me for not cussing. The truth is I just don't like the way the swearing rolls of my tongue, it made me feel dirty.

After asking at least ten more people about just what is going on I decided my father would know. I remember thinking to myself about just why I didn't start with dear old dad, he was the overseer now. Sometimes things just take some time to get use to I guess. When I arrived at his office I saw that a dozen people had the same idea. My father was trying to answer everyone's questions as best he could but they came at him to fast.

Finally he pushed the panic button under his desk and had the security team escort everyone out of his office. The place was just like any other room, dark and metal, damp yet dry. The bolts in the walls had their own individual rust patterns, many people in the vault took to counting all of the bolts just to see how many there are. Tommy Lumpkins swore that he had them all counted and said that there were over 200 million bolts. Tommy had a very unfortunate last name.

My dad finally stopped rubbing his temples long enough to see me in the door way. "Come on in Jason, I am sure you're here for the same reasons the others were too?" He asked

"Maybe, I just want to know why everyone is in such a rush today. Last time I checked the schedule there was nothing about a drill so I'm guessing something happened?"  
"Yes, something very big happened." The look in his eyes was the same he had when my mother died of her illness, hurt and depression. But also fear, an overwhelming amount of fear, it was almost like you could taste it in the musty air. "Dad, what's wrong?"  
"We…we are almost out of food, and the soil in the green house has given us all she can, the radiation levels are too high in it. We have no other choice." I knew what he meant, anyone who knew my dad would know what he was currently on about. He was going to open the Vault for the first time since the war. "Are you sure dad? Who knows what's out there, or if there even is an out there to go to! You're sure there is no other way?"  
"Positive, I have personally gone through every inch of this accursed metal tomb and found not a single trace of usable soil. It has to be done."  
"I'm with you dad, you can always count on me for that, but are you sure the others will take it as well as I am? What if they revolt? What if they get violent or the extremists try to kill you like they did Sarah?" I asked with my fear for my dad's safety at its peak. He looked at me and just shook his head with a smile on his face. "Your just like your mother you know that? She would have said the same damn thing. I have already checked with Holster about his party's stand on opening the vault and he agreed that it must be done if we are to survive longer than another year." He got Holster to agree to something? That man was the most radical of the extremists, which is why they made him the head of their party. "How in the hay did you manage that?" I asked stubbornly. "Well, your old man knows how to talk himself out of a situation every now and then."  
"Yeah, just as good as you can talk yourself into one too." We both laughed at that, it was the first time in a long time I had heard my father laugh. "There is something I need you to do for my Jason, something we all need you to do."  
"Yeah dad?"  
"I need you to be the one who goes out of the vault." I froze. Me? He wanted ME to go? I sat there mouth a gape staring at him, what good would I do outside of the vault? "You have every reason to take pause at that son but the truth is you are the only one I find bright enough to make heads or tails of what's out there."  
"I…I…understand dad, when do you want me to go?"  
"Now." He said


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Last one out, close the giant gear shaped door.

My dad and I walked down the hall and into the armory, I always hated this room, the atmosphere was not my style. I preferred to not hurt anyone and yet my dad said that I must carry a gun and ammo with me at all times. As soon as I stepped through the door I was immediately grabbed and had a bullet proof vest strapped to me, then another camouflage patterned vest. The top vest was covered in pockets and had a knife already in one of them. It smelled clean unlike most things in the vault.

I was then given a matching pair of pants and told to put them on; the pants also had a truck load of pockets on them. Boots and knee pads were also given to me, I strapped them all on as fast as I could and was whisked away into the firing range. This room hadn't been touched in a very long time, as it was a waste of ammo to shoot at paper targets all day, and yet there I was, shooting at paper targets.

I had never held a gun before and it took me quite a long time to figure out a good grip, not that I would need it I had hoped. It took even longer for me to finally pull the trigger for the first time. After a good five clips later I became a master at shooting in the general area of what I wanted to hit. As my father and I left the armory the quartermaster handed me a baseball bat that had nails all along the end that would have once been used to hit a baseball with. "I suggest you use this rather that that gun if you need to do some damage, no offense kid but even with your V.A.T.S you still couldn't hit anywhere near the target." He said as my father pulled me along.

V.A.T.S? How could I forget to use my vats system? With my eye sight I suck at aiming but if I had used the vats I could have hit that target so many more times. And by that I mean I could have actually hit the target. By the way, we also have an advanced targeting system in our pipboy called V.A.T.S which stands for Vault-tech Advanced Targeting System, it helped us aim just about anything and it also gave us the probability of hitting what we were aiming for.

We ended up at the storehouse somehow; I had been too lost in thought about how stupid I had been to be able to remember how long it had taken us to arrive here. Madison, the storehouse keeper, handed me a backpack and began to fill it with a little bit of food and water, a pack of matches, and a map labeled "Alaska". I had no idea what this Alaska was or why I needed a map for it. My dad assured me that I would need it when I got to the surface. "We think that Alaska was the name of the territory we are in, we would be able to confirm this if our computers hadn't wiped all data about where we are 150 years ago." My dad told me.

Madison helped me put the bag on my back and waved us good-bye as we headed towards the vault door. I had only seen the door once and I was certain that it looked like a giant metal gear of some sort with its teeth fitting perfectly into the slits in the floor it was almost like the floor would move if it decided to turn to the right. I was about to find out, because as I was thinking about it my dad had activated the consol that opens the door. There was a loud crack as the winch moved into place and a low creak as the door slowly rolled open. The floor didn't move but the door was taking all the time it could to open, giving me more time than I would have like to think about just what I was getting myself into.

Finally it stopped rolling; I hadn't even noticed that a yellow light had been flashing the whole time due to the fact that I was to rapt by the door opening. What waited for me beyond this dark tunnel to the surface? Were the tails of a never ending void true? Or would I find something even more frightening? I'm not sure what could be more frightening than an endless void but it was still a thought none the less. The tunnel was damp that much was clear, also the water dripping from the roof was a pretty good sign but no one asked the roof did they?

"Are you ready son?"  
"As ready as I will ever be I guess. Do you have any form of an idea as to what I might find out there?" I asked. He stared at me for a few seconds. "No, and that is what worries me. You will do well my boy, I had your teacher install a ham radio into your pipboy so that we can talk while you are out there. If you see anywhere that might be a hospitable place for us to move to let me know immediately."  
"Wait a minute dad, move? You never said anything about a total relocation! I am supposed to find a place where our people will need to live for the rest of time?"  
"Pretty much, don't worry you will be fine."  
"And what if we can't survive out there? How will I be able to know that?"  
"Well…You will either know, or you won't." Don't you love it when your dad tells you that if you're entire population can't survive on the surface of your planet that you will probably find out because you will be dead? Me too. "We will have to close the door behind you, it's nothing to worry about just get on your radio and tell me that it's you at the door and I will send word to let you in."  
"What is it that you don't want to get in exactly?"  
"Something tells me that you're going to find out before I do." And that was the last time I would talk to my dad face to face for a long, long time. I watched as they sealed the door behind me, I had to turn on the light from my pipboy to see anything, on the outside of the door there was the number 2 etched into the center of it. I figured that if I was going to do it I might as well just do it and took off at a run down the tunnel.

Two things were going through my mind as I ascended from the tunnel, just how long am I going to be in this accursed hole and just how deep was the vault? My pipboy told me it had been half an hour since I had left the vault and I was just now seeing something at the other end. It was like the dirt walls of the cave, but only there were these strange white lines emitting from it. I approached slowly and realized that it was a door made out of wood. A wooden door! Can you believe that? Who would use wood for a door when metal is much stronger? It made absolutely no sense to me. I slowly reached for the door knob, fearing what might be on the other side of the door. With one last deep breath I pulled it open and was immediately blinded by the brightest light I had ever encountered.

It took me a whole ten minutes to finally be able to see where I was, and I was confronted by big mounds of white stuff that blanketed everything. It was cold and wet and when I held it for too long it melted into water. Ice? I had no idea if it was or not, all I knew was that I was surrounded by it and these tall brown things coming out of the ground. I looked back on the door that had opened into this white nothingness and saw nothing but barrels upon barrels of radioactive waste. We had been living under this for years and no one knew! It's no wonder that even after we had stopped exposing ourselves to radiation we continued to mutate in a variety of ways.

Shortly after that I turned on the radio and reported what I saw to my dad. "That is called snow Jason, and if we are living under radioactive waste then we really need you to find a new place for us to call home, I am sure that our short supply of food is a much more pressing matter seeing that we have been living under it for 240 years so don't think that it is a now or never situation. I suggest you look south, we believe it will get warmer as you go along that way. As long as you don't cross any oceans and stay on this landmass we should be able to stay in contact, I have to go now son people are scared down here. Good luck."  
"Thanks dad." I said and then came the sound of a radio powering down.

The first thing I felt was the loneliness, I had been in a bunker surrounded by 120 people for my entire life. To go from that to no one was depressing, and scary. I walked on in a south east direction which I felt would take me deeper in land if the map I had was to be believed. After about an hour of walking I could no longer hear the radiation meter ticking at me so I felt it was safe enough to try melting and drinking some of this 'snow'. It tasted funny, and it was too cold to drink a lot at once. I made a note in my pipboy that said "_Snow: can be melted down into drinkable water, and perhaps can be used to sustain humans. However it is very cold._" The last sentence of that note made me realize that it was deathly cold out here, if I was to survive I would need to do something primitive…build a fire.

I had no idea how to begin such a thing, I read many books about taking a stick and rubbing it really fast against another stick to create a fire but that didn't really work for me. Then I remembered I had matches inside my bag, I took them out and went to open it when I thought about how exposed I was out here. "This is no place to make camp I could be attacked by…something, another human maybe…are there any humans out here?" I said to myself. I decided to continue walking in my south east direction until I came across a cave. It didn't burrow into the mountain it was beneath but it went back far enough to make a decent shelter.

I moved some rocks around to make an area where I could lay down and have a fire going while I slept, and then I realized, I don't have the equipment to keep a fire going. All I had was two small sticks that would burn for maybe a few minutes, but after that I would be screwed. I looked around at maybe a half mile radius from the cave and couldn't find a single thing that would keep a fire burning so that I could stay alive tonight. I decided that I would just have to hope the shelter would keep most of the cold out and I was able to survive the night and find some wood later. I was about 100 yards away from the cave when I saw something sticking out of the snow, something furry.

I dug it up straight away hoping that it was something that would keep me warm, what I found was a dead man wrapped in a fur coat holding a bundle of wood. I made myself take the coat and wood no matter how wrong I thought it was, I wasn't about to die for not taking something off of a dead man, however, I did apologize to the corpse just in case his spirit was watching me. I couldn't afford to have any bad luck out here; he also had another box of matches. Half of them were used but it was still another forty or so matches.

I hauled my loot up to the cave and set up a circle of rocks to keep the fire contained; I then stacked the wood up and struck a match on a nearby rock. The fire cracked and roared as it came alive and I hung my new coat next to it to dry it off. I checked my pipboy to see what food I had; there was only an apple, a squash, and an onion. Sometimes I wonder if people even think about what they pack in the way of supplies, I mean, an onion. Who the heck packs an onion as a meal? I closed my inventory screen and decided to go without food tonight. It wouldn't be so bad, I had eaten myself full the night before so I could easily go for three weeks without eating anything. And there was no lack of water that was for sure, I drank the mediocre amount of drinkable liquid that they had sent me off with and filled my canteen with snow and set it next to the fire so it would melt. And don't ask why I said liquid instead of water, just don't, its less disgusting that way.

It had shaped up to a pretty eventful day today, I had single handedly caused chaos in the vault in order to save everyone, I discovered snow, and I had looted a dead man's corpse. I giggled to myself at the thought of what I had done today. There was no way I would have done that, well at least not a day ago, but now that I am outside there is a real sense of wonder and mystery. I thought about the other things I might have to do while I was out here and I became exited. Would I get to hunt animals for food? Maybe I would build a permanent shelter when I got out of the damn snow. I closed my eyes and began to drift off to sleep, my head swimming with the thoughts of what I will most likely need to do. The last thing I heard that night was the howling of the wind as it whistled through the damp cave. Although it sounded a lot deeper in tone than the wind could have made near the end, it must have been my tired mind playing tricks on me.


End file.
